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Human Impact on Estuaries: A Terrible Spill in Grand Bay

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In this activity, learners make a model of a pollution spill that occurred at Bangs Lake in Mississippi and measure water quality parameters in their model. Learners then study the actual spill, analyzing various forms of data to determine the date of the spill and identify how the spill changed water quality parameters in the estuary during and after the spill. Learners speculate on how various life forms in the estuary were affected. Finally, learners produce a timeline of the spill event, with recommendations to the state Department of Environmental Quality about how to prevent large-scale pollution spills like this in the future.

A project of University of California, Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science. Major funding was provided by the National Science Foundation (Award #0735007), The Camille & Henry Dreyfus Foundation, and Oracle.